A Christmas sermon based on John 1:1-14, Rev. J. Orlando Flahn
The lyrics for “Mary, Did You Know?”, the beloved Christmas classic, were written by Mark Lowry in 1984, and the music was composed by gospel artist Buddy Greene in 1991:
“Mary, did you know That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered Will soon deliver you
[Verse 2]
Mary, did you know That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby You’ve kissed the face of God
Mary, did you know?
[Verse 3]
Mary, did you know That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know That your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you’re holding Is the Great I Am.”
Mark Lowry captures the Christological essence of Christmas, or the heart of its meaning.
EXPOSITION
The gospel reading for this morning also gives us the heart and Christological essence of the Christmas story. In this short fourteen-verse passage, John’s gospel says nothing about Joseph and Mary, nothing about Bethlehem, no manger, no stable, no shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night, nothing about the angels, no wise men, no stars, and no baby lying in a manger. And yet John, in this passage, chooses to reveal to us the true essence of the Christmas story…
Many surveys show that “holiday burnout” is very real… increased demands for shopping, cooking, social events, and financial pressure…lead to stress, anxiety, and exhaustion.
May John’s gospel help us this morning to rediscover what really matters most about Christmas….to know what is the heart of Christmas…the truth is, each year we often spend too much of our energy on the nativity scene…preoccupy ourselves with the decorations, the presents, getting the gifts, and all of the other things. It escapes our focus on the essence of the season.
John defines the entire Christmas story in a single four-word phrase in verse fourteen: “The Word became flesh.” For John, this is the heart of Christmas. If we miss this, we miss the entire Christmas! “God became flesh and dwelt among us.” And what that means is this: The Child in that manger is heaven’s great light coming into our spiritual darkness – the eternal God, putting on flesh and blood and born into our broken world. Why? To meet our greatest need: to redeem us from sin! And this morning, God wants us to know why we celebrate Christmas!
ILL: Mariah Carey’s famous Christmas song reflects what our world truly cries out for at Christmas: “I don’t want a lot for Christmas, she sings. “There is just one thing I need. I don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree; I just want you for my own. More than you could ever know, Make my wish come true, All I want for Christmas is you (Yeah)…All I want for Christmas is you.”
APP: Isn’t that the heart’s cry of our broken world? In the lyrics of this secular Christmas song, we see the reality of our world’s genuine spiritual longing at Christmas: JESUS CHRIST!
And today, in that little town of Bethlehem, God makes our wish come true – He gives us all that we truly want for Christmas: Jesus, the Son of God…
APP: Christmas is not all about the tree, the toys, the stockings, the presents, the manger scene… the family gatherings. Please don’t get me wrong. I like my Christmas traditions. Our Christmas tree goes up around Thanksgiving. I like the nativity scene, the stable and manger, the star, Mary and Joseph, the donkey, the shepherds, and the wise men bringing their gifts. I like them because they beautifully retell the historical story of what happened that glorious morning when Christ was born. And please don’t let anyone take that away from you.
However, if this most sacred season is reduced to decorations, toys, and the exchange of gifts, we miss the point entirely. The true essence of Christmas is to make room for the God who is made flesh and blood and dwelt among us.
APP: Is Jesus included in all your Christmas plans this year? Is He on your checklist? Does He have room in your heart this morning? Is He, the Christ Child, lying in the manger of your home?
ILL: Two women who were having lunch in an elegant hotel cafeteria were approached by a mutual friend who asked the reason for the occasion and the meal. One lady replied, “We are celebrating the birth of my baby boy.” “But where is he?” inquired the friend. “Oh,” said the mother, “you didn’t think I’d bring him, did you?” What a picture of the way the world treats Jesus at Christmas. (Source Unknown)
Who Is this Word (God) that Became Flesh?
Look at verse 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The “Word” is the Greek term “logos.” When John wrote about the “logos,” no explanation was needed; the Greeks perfectly understood what he meant. In the Greek world of philosophy and religion, the “logos” was believed to be a creative force, an intelligent mind of the universe. But to them, it was an abstract, impersonal principle of reason and order and intelligence, a source of knowledge and wisdom that existed. Yet it could not be felt or touched.
But John is saying to them that this impersonal power, this non-personal principle of reason, has become flesh and blood and dwelt among us. The “logos,” the most creative power, a source of wisdom, knowledge, and intelligence, is a person. He has become a man, a personal God who came into the world in the man Jesus.
For the Jews, the Word of the Lord (the logos) was a very familiar idea. If you read the OT, you will read this so many times: “The Word of the Lord came to so-and-so.” The Word of the Lord was simply God revealing Himself, His person, His nature, His will, His wisdom, His truth. John says, “This Word has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ.”
That’s why the writer of the book of Hebrews says, “Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. 2 And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son…The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command…(Heb 1:4 NLT)
This is the most important single reality John’s gospel points to at Christmas: that our celebration at this time of year is about the infinite, transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present, everlasting, unchanging, eternal God of the universe becoming a human being. That is the message. He is our Emmanuel, “God with us.” That is the most essential truth of our faith at Christmas. This is the only truth that can save a sinner from eternal hell. And John writes his gospel to convey that truth, so that we would understand that Jesus is God in human flesh.
EQ: So, you ask, what does all this mean? What is the implication for me of God coming in the flesh and blood and lying in the manger? I mean, what is the essence of God becoming flesh?
TS: There are many implications of the incarnation, but let me dwell on these two briefly:
I. John says, first, that in the incarnation, “the Word made flesh and blood and dwelt among us” (1:14), that God can be personally known, and He invites you to an abiding relationship with Him.
John says that God wants you to have a personal encounter with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ… not just by coming to church and being religious. He wants to meet you personally in a daily relationship so that you follow Him wherever He leads you.
The infinite God made Himself finite, experiencing human life, joys, pain, and suffering, so He may have an intimate fellowship with you.
2. The incarnation is God’s invitation not only to encounter Him but also to a radical transformation of your life.
This means God’s dwelling with us isn’t just a historical event. His coming into our world has literally changed the lives of countless millions of people.
No man or woman encounters the Triune God of Christmas in Christ Jesus and remains the same. Today, your life can be radically transformed when you put your faith in Jesus. His physical presence, His sacrifice on the cross, and His death, burial, and resurrection offer you complete forgiveness and eternal life, transforming our present existence and giving hope beyond your brokenness in this world.
CONCLUSION:
ILL: Changed By the Arrival of a Child
In1868, Bret Harte wrote a short story called “The Luck of Roaring Camp.” It turned Mr. Harte into an internationally known writer. The story is written about a mining town in California called Roaring Camp. The only woman in the town was a Cherokee named Sal. She became pregnant but died while giving birth to a son. This left a baby in a town full of single men. Not just men, but rough, tough, rude, crude men of the WILD west. What are THEY going to do with a baby?
The child was thought to be a sign of good fortune, so they gave him the name Thomas (Tommy) Luck. They put him in a dirty box, wrapped in dirty clothes. But that didn’t look right, so they ordered a rosewood cradle with satin sheets and a soft pillow. The best room they had was filthy, so these men got on their knees and cleaned the floors and the walls. Then they decided that if they were going to take care of a baby, they needed to start using soap. They needed to wash their hands and bathe more often. And then they said, “Maybe we don’t need to be gambling so much. Maybe we don’t need to be fighting so much. Maybe we don’t need to be drinking so much. And as the story progresses, the entire town of Roaring Camp is transformed by the arrival of a single baby boy.
APP: Two thousand years ago, the entire world was transformed by the arrival of a baby boy, only this baby boy was the Son of God. And because of Jesus’ birth, everything is different! He has made a whole new way of life possible. We can know salvation, peace, hope, love, and joy through Him. Because He loves us, we can learn to love others by His example. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
C. S. Lewis said it well: “The Son of God became a man that men might become sons of God.”
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